I thought i'd post this on the forum rather than a private email, as others may be interested to know too.
As i'm quite a recyling nut, i don't like printing things out all the time, so was wondering how long some of the posts will be available to view.
As i'm off to Tobago in October, i'd like to check out certain things nearer the time. (At the moment i'm trying to find a job, organise my wedding and honeymoon; looking for a house, and selling our old one back in Liverpool so trying to keep information in my head is nigh on impossible).
Thanks
I’m delighted to see you in the forum – despite the best efforts of AOL to keep you out.
The quick answer to your question is that I don’t know. My original concept assumed that posts would remain on the forum for around three YEARS. It’s simply a matter of deciding how long the information is valid. We don’t want to clutter the system up with out-of-date useless information, but equally, many posts will be valid for many years. I would be interested in reader’s comments on this subject.
Your question actually cuts to the very heart of the new forum. The old system was collapsing, in performance terms, despite having only 1,400 posts. Trying to find a post on a specific subject or establishment was no easy task.
The new database-driven forum utilises arguably the best forum software available. The developer's technical support forum has 55,000 registered users and nearly 500,000 posts. As I write there are 113 users connected to this California-hosted forum and yet searching those half-million posts is just as quick as searching our tiny myTobago.info forum. The point I’m making is that we haven’t even got the forum into first gear yet – so performance isn’t an issue and the posts could stay on there indefinitely if we felt they were of use.
So, fear not – I think we can safely say that all the information (and hopefully a lot more) will still be there before you go to Tobago.
Incidentally, everyone, Ellie has had great problems connecting to the myTobago.info forum. She connects to the Internet via AOL. Sadly, there are serious issues between AOL/CompuServe and many websites – particularly those that require you to log in. The issue is one of security.
When you connect to any Internet website, the site notes your IP address. This is a unique set of numbers that identifies your computer and enables the web page or other information to route back to your computer. When you log in to a site, this IP address is captured. When you transmit the request for the next page, the website looks at your IP address and says “Ah, that’s Ellie. She’s already logged in, so we can let her have the next page” – or whatever. It’s done to ensure that nobody else has “hacked” into your account pretending to be you. Not exactly vital with our little system, but could be very serious if you were shopping on the Internet.
Anyway, when you use AOL or CompuServe, you don’t actually connect directly to the Internet. They connect on your behalf and then pass the information back to you. When they are busy they often change IP addresses to spread the load. So, you log in under one IP address and then read a few posts, type a reply, submit it – and bang – our system says you’re somebody else because the IP address is different.
The only way round this for us is to strip various security checks out of the program. This is a lot of work with the inherent risk of upsetting the balance and causing problems elsewhere. Sadly, it’s not a task that I wish to undertake.
There is a rough workaround that will help - and which is often good practise for all longer posts, no matter how you connect. Type your post in your word processor – Microsoft Word or whatever you use. Then connect to the forum and post your message by copying the message and pasting into the forum message. If you get an error message and are forced to log in again, you can do so without having lost all your message.
The use of AOL and CompuServe is almost entirely limited to new or casual computer users. Regular users invariably soon change to alternative ISPs having encountered so many problems. Sadly, a very, very large percentage of users blame their own inexperience – or the websites they’re trying to connect to - and don’t realise that it is a problem with AOL/CompuServe. My advice – change ISP and enjoy the Internet the way it is supposed to be.
Keep Smiling
Steve Wooler myTobago.info - the definitive Visitor Guide to Tobago
